Making Learning Relevant

I volunteer at my church and teach a 4th grade Religious Education class, and our first class was yesterday. While this was a different kind of “1st day of school”  I felt the same 1st day enthusiasm that all teachers feel on the first day. I’d carefully planned our activities and was anxious to get to know the group of students.  As the students filtered in the room, one young man raised his hand and said, “Can I ask you a question?  Why do we need to learn all 10 commandments?”

I replied, “What a good question! And how lucky you are to be in this class because that’s one of the things we will be learning about throughout the year.” That’s what I said, but what I thought was, “What will I do to make sure this group of 4th graders really does see a connection between what I say here and what goes on in their own lives? How can I be sure I am making learning relevant for them every week?”

It did make me start thinking about what I needed to keep in mind as I planned future lessons:

• Kids need to know WIIFM – “What’s in it for me?”  As I plan lessons, do I make sure to make that connection of why it really matters to students?
• I need to know my students- If I want them to see why it matters in their own lives, it helps if I take the time to get to know my students.
• I should encourage reflection – My guiding questions can encourage them to reflect on the learning and how it applies to their own lives.
• I need to keep them curious – How can I drop hints about what’s to come in our learning?  How can I make them WANT to know what’s coming next?

One of the freedoms I have in this volunteer teaching position that wasn’t a part of my years as a teacher in a reading and language arts classroom is that I don’t have to worry about what’s on “THE TEST.”  While I don’t have the motivator of saying, “It will be on the test,”  I do know I can still make learning relevant. Even if you do have “THE TEST,” is that really what we want as the main way to make learning relevant in our classrooms?  I don’t think so. What do you think?